Jude Law's Dumbledore hunts Johnny Depp's villain in 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' trailer

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may not have captured moviegoers’ imaginations in the same way that its Harry Potter predecessors did, but with a global box-office haul of $814 million, it was definitely successful enough to warrant a sequel. That follow-up, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, alas, has been dogged by controversy from the start, thanks to its decision to retain the services of Johnny Depp as its title character despite the claims of domestic abuse made by his ex-wife Amber Heard. Series creator J.K. Rowling’s defense of Depp only further ignited a backlash (which even Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, couldn’t quite argue with). Yet despite that furor, the film remains on schedule — with Depp aboard — for a November theatrical bow. And we now have our first trailer for the highly anticipated fantasy film.

In the sequel, Depp plays evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald, who spent most of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them posing as Colin Farrell’s Percival Graves before being arrested at the movie’s conclusion by the Magical Congress of the United States of America. With his identity now known to the wizarding world — including Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander — the white-haired villain breaks free from imprisonment in David Yates’s would-be blockbuster, and sets about on a mission to create a new ruling class of pure-blood magical people. If that makes him sound a lot like He Who Must Not Be Named, well, that’s because he’s a bad guy cut from a familiar cloth. He’ll be opposed by not only Redmayne’s weirdo hero, but also by the younger Albus Dumbledore, who’s played by Jude Law. This character takes center stage in the trailer, which teases the presence of Depp’s baddie before providing us with a single final glimpse of that baddie under careful wand-raised guard.

So far, Potterphiles both here and in England seem thrilled with this first look at the upcoming prequel:

With Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Zoë Kravitz, and Ezra Miller returning to the series in their respective roles, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will aim to keep Rowling’s lucrative fantasy franchise aloft when it premieres in theaters on Nov. 16.

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